Russell Report: The growing gambling problem in sports

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) – We have seen some great sporting events recently like the NBA Finals, the Stanley Cup Finals, the Women’s College World Series, and the Men’s College World Series. Great to see great athletes do their thing. But also recently some disturbing things are happening on the sports front, and it has to do with a growing gambling problem.

ESPM.com did a terrific story on this, highlighting some of the lowlights that have happened with gambling since 2018 when the Supreme Court struck down federal prohibitions on sports gambling. It allowed any state wishing to legalize gambling to simply do so and many have done just that.

But with that has come disturbing instances when players and others have been suspended and/or banned for illegal betting and it has ranged in just about every sport from the NFL to the NBA to Major League Baseball to soccer. An NBA player, Jontay Porter, was banned for life after he disclosed confidential information to bettors. San Diego Padres infielder Tucapita Marcano was banned for life and four others were banned for a year for violating sports betting rules and policies. Remember when Alabama’s Baseball Coach was fired last year for allegedly communicating with a bettor on a game. And just recently MLB umpire Pat Hoberg has been disciplined for violating the league’s gambling rules; he has not umpired a game this year but he says he has done nothing wrong. Several NFL players have bet on their own teams and got caught as well.

And even more disturbing are reports that players have been threatened by gamblers over their performances in games that the bettors gambled on. And one wonders how many players have been threatened that we know nothing about. I’ve never gambled or bet on a game and in theory, there’s nothing wrong with it, but there had better be some sharp eyes looking at what’s going on in the 39 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia all have legal betting markets and bettors have waged billions of dollars on sporting events in state-sponsored sportsbooks.

Again, there’s nothing wrong with legally betting on a game. But with all the changes taking place in college and pro athletics and with more bettors risking their money on these athletes and the games, there is more room for problems to occur. We are so focused on name, image and likeness, transfer portals, and paying college players but the gambling issue is another one to keep our eye on to see where it goes from here. I’m Steve Russell, that’s the Russell Report!

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